Hello new friends and dream travelers. I first discovered Lucid Dreaming when I found Stephen Lebarge’s book when it was first published and attempted to lucid dream on and off since then with little success. I did have many vivid dreams over the years and am obsessed with flying ( actually was a paraglider for a year in Real life and very into flight simulators and even built a virtual reality paraglider simulator- but that’s another story).
When the pandemic hit and I was stuck home, I thought it might be a perfect time to dedicate myself to lucid dreaming. I have tried it all…Reality checks all day, many podcasts, books ,HowToLucid.com, paid course. All the techniques … I have been dream journaling every day for over 4 months now…I mediate every day and bought a “Mindplace Limina”…very cool…I tried Choline, mugwort, B6, 5-Htp…but many give me a bad stomachache at low doses.
Anyway…sorry this so long…
After the 1st 2 weeks had a brief lucid dream…Yay. Where I recognized I must be dreaming and saw my finger go right thru the palm of my hand…I yelled “It works, It’s true. I am lucid!” I was so excited, I immediately woke up. I know now how to control that when it happens again. But at least it happened. Since then, for 4 months, there was a period where I had many dreams in which I thought “am I dreaming” or “this must be a dream”. But then wake up before I can do a reality check. Those were all very bizarre dreams. For the past month my dreams have all been very mundane with nothing to make me question if I was dreaming.
I am getting very frustrated but will not give up.
I want to FLY in my dreams, swim with dolphins, travel thru the stars and learn more about myself and life.
I am almost 63 and wonder if my brain is just too “hard wired” to be starting this.
Now I have found this wonderful community and so look forward to watching the webinars and connecting with you all.
Thanks foe reading and I hope to “meet” many of you soon.
Steve
I’m 68 and I just started on this path early last year. I have practiced every single day and night since then and I embrace every short moment of lucidity.
I do think our brains are hard wired against lucidity and maybe there is a good reason for that. There is a chemical that is released during REM sleep that keeps the metacognitive function of the brain in check. I am coming to consider that to be a good thing in general. Imagine being fully lucid all the time in dreams rather than being a passive part of that process. Consider the psychological ramifications of that.
I think, instead, that we may be slowly evolving toward that kind of lucidity and that those of us who work so hard at it are on the forefront of that process.
Hi @Flyingkeys!
Have you been able to check out the webinars “Obstacles and Antidotes”? The 5th one talks about discouragement and frustration.
You had a glimpse tho! That alone deserves a WELL DONE! 
I imagine it’s like meditation - having a deeper ‘experience’ which immediately becomes an obstacle. Our minds…stubborn little things. Or I guess I should say - our Self-Egos are the stubborn creations!
Thanks for the reply and I will definitely check out the webinar.
Is it “normal” whatever that means” that a dream needs to be bizarre, fantastical to question it and incite lucidity?
I also have been doing more Virtual reality and video gaming that I hope to inspire more lucidity. I am questioning reality all day, so it’s odd that that isn’t happening in my dream life.
Cheers,
Steve
Great input. That’s where I wonder if the supplements I have tried are meant to “counteract” that chemical in the brain. Ie Choline, B6, etc .
Welcome to the community. I am 73 and sometimes wondered the same thing, though after 2 years, I’ve proven to myself that I can do it. I’ve had some experience with supplements, Galantamine, B-6, Gaba, Chaga and others, and with different techniques. I have had recent good luck with the techniques cited in this research.
We have a dream group meeting on Sundays and I derive a lot of motivation from those Dreamanauts each week. They’re characters in my day-dreaming. A couple of weeks ago Emeric’s tale of trying to fly into space inspired me enough to do that that very night. I like Steve’s advice above and he’s helped to inspire me as well.
Hi. Hope I can ask a quick question about the site. I did put out a question to Andrew and am sure I’ll hear back soon, but I can’t get any webinar to play and it says “you need to be a member of Nightclub” which I thought I was, and it does show me as logged it. Are the webinars only available with a paid membership…so far I just signed up for the free one.
Btw, I forgot to mention …I did have a 2nd lucid dream where I tried to put my right finger thru my left palm and it didn’t go…until I turned my left hand over and th finger was sticking out the back of the hand…but then I woke up…
Thanks again for the encouragement.
Steve
Thanks for reaching out Barry. That’s good to hear about the age and time it took… I see posts about getting lucid in 2-4 weeks and I’m thinking…”I’ve been soooo dedicated and what’s wrong …so excited I found this site. How does one join the Sunday meeting?
Thanks,
Steve
Here’s the info for the Sunday meetings.
I usually try to put my hands through walls. Seems to work better than losing digits that way for me. Nightclub recently went to a two-tier system with “Emerald” membership opening up all the extra goodies that Andrew and AndyK have posted here. Well worth the expense in my opinion.
It is my understanding that galantamine inhibits the enzyme (acetylcholinesterase) that is the culprit here.
I did not start using galantamine until I was over a year into my training and was already experiencing lucidity. I felt that it was important to establish a more natural and holistic groundwork before I looked into “hot wiring” things. 
I am getting extremely strong results these days with a weekly dose of galantamine.
On another note…the interviews are well worth the price of admission, as Barry mentioned. There are a treasure trove of insight and inspiration.
thanks. I just paid and joined the Emerald plan. Unfortunately, I missed the Sunday dream group, but hopefully next week.
I think I will try to wait on the Galantamine for a while… I am sure it is best to go “natural” as much as possible.
Looking forward to the webinars.
Steve